The Beautiful Mystery of Plants

When we moved into this apartment last October there were two things I really loved about it: The huge balcony and the built-in flower bed in front of the bedroom window (we’re on the third floor). So when spring came, we weeded everything out and were contemplating what to plant in front of the bedroom. It only gets direct sun in the evening, so we weren’t sure what herbs would grow well there. We’re only just learning about gardening and plants and are pretty much playing it by ear.

So we went to the store, looked at the variety of seeds and figured something to surprise us would be really cool. So we got two packets of mixed seeds. It said on the packaging that there would grow various plants with edible flowers. Awesome, I though, pretty and edible! And all I had to do was dump the seeds into the earth and water them.

They grew. We have an amazing little jungle in front of our bedroom window.

There’s just one thing – we have no idea whatsoever what is growing there. *laughs* According to the seed packet there was supposed to grow the following: basil “Purple Ruffles”, cornflower, borage, nasturtium, horsemint, horned violet, pansy and marigold. I suppose some seeds were also blown there with the wind and grew. And there must have been additional seeds as well.

Dill

This one for example: Looks like dill, tastes like dill, makes me pretty sure it IS dill. But I never planted it there. 🙂

Cilantro

Similar situation here: Looks like coriander (or as it’s also called, cilantro), tastes like cilantro, but never planted there as far as I’m aware of.

I googled the plants that were supposed to grow and was thus able to identify this as nasturtium:

Nasturtium – Kapuzinerkresse

They are the pretty round leaves. It’s called “Kapzinerkresse” in German, which I think is a real pretty name. It seems to be related to waterkress.

See the big, sturdy leaves next to the nasturtium? Any idea what this could be? I have no idea whatsoever. There are little spikey hairs to it, too.

Then there are a couple of the plants pictured above. They are quite tall, have long leaves and tiny white flowers. Again, I’m rather clueless as to what it is.

There are lots of these plants. They only just started to grow those little flowers. I’m hoping the flowers will get bigger, that may make it easier to determine what it is. The leaves don’t smell special, so I doubt it’s some kind of herb.

Very close to the earth there are loads and loads of these little plants. They are not really tall nor do they smell special and they only just started to grow flowers. Again, I’m pretty much at a loss what kind they are.

There is, however, growing something on the balcony where I know exactly what it is. 🙂 Here in Switzerland, there’s an organization called ProSpecieRara. They work towards bringing back old and almost forgotten variatons of vegetables, fruit and also animals, e.g. special kinds of goats. This year they launched an event called Stadt Tomaten to make the city greener and teach people how to grow their own tomatoes. All over Switzerland they were giving away seedlings of almost forgotten tomatoe sorts. That’s how I came by a seedling of a “Pink Grapefruit” Tomatoe plant. It was maybe 20 cm high when we got it.

It grew. A lot.

The Monster Plant of Monsters – Pink Grapefruit Tomato

Yes, I need to go buy a bigger planter and a tall bamboo stick to help it grow. Who knew that it would grow like crazy?! By now, it’s pretty much as tall or even taller than myself!

And there are flowers, too, that hopefully turn into beautiful little tomatoes soon:

I really hope that one day we will be able to live in a house with a small garden for ourselves where we can grow more vegetables and herbs by ourselves. Until then, I will practice on the balcony. 🙂